Scrupulosity and obsessive-compulsive disorder are two painful conditions that frequently go together.

Scrupulosity involves excessive anxiety about the sinfulness of particular actions. For example, having a fear that a typical, everyday action like forgetting to turn off the lights and thus “wasting electricity” might be a mortal sin. Such fears are known as scruples.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a related condition in which a person experiences frequent, painful thoughts (obsessions, such as fear of germs on one’s hands), which may drive him to perform various actions (compulsions, such as repeatedly washing the hands) in order to relieve the anxiety.

The two conditions often go together because the obsessions that an OCD sufferer has may be scruples. That is, OCD can cause a person to have frequent, painful thoughts that are excessive fears about whether something is sinful.

In other words: OCD can cause people to have scruples.

I frequently find myself advising people about how to deal with these conditions, and over time I’ve developed some standard pieces of advice. In this post, I’d like to discuss six of them that can be useful tools.

A Common Pattern

The value of these tools is that they can be applied to many different situations. A common pattern in counseling the scrupulous and the OCD is that no sooner is one worry dealt with than another pops up to replace it.

While it is possible to answer these worries one at a time, a better procedure is to offer advice that the scrupulous person can use to address the new worries himself, as soon as they pop up.

This is principle as the maxim, “Give a man a fish and he’ll have food for a day, but teach him to fish and he’ll have food for a lifetime.”

The tools I’d like to offer here involve skills like learning to fish. They can apply to many different scruples and thus can be used to help with scrupulosity and OCD in general, not just particular manifestations of them.

The tools discussed in this post deal with scruples about whether particular courses of action that involve risk should be judged sinful.

Risk, OCD, and Scrupulosity

Sometimes people with OCD can be caught in a trap by the idea of taking risk.

Common manifestations of the condition involve repetitively checking to see whether one has locked the door or turned off the stove or washed one’s hands properly.

Failure to do any of these involves risk: an unlocked door could let a burglar in, a lit stove could lead to a house fire, and unwashed hands could result in getting a disease.

Some people with OCD feel compelled to check and re-check—sometimes hundreds of times a day—whether they have properly locked their doors, turned off their stoves, and washed their hands.

This obsessive worry about these things, and the compulsive re-checking that it leads to, become scrupulosity when the person starts worrying, “Am I sinning if I don’t re-check these things?”

This is not healthy, and people caught in these worries need a way to break out of the trap.

Tool 1: Setting the Right Goal

It strikes me that part of the root of the problem is that the person has the wrong goal in these situations.

By checking and re-checking these things, the person is trying to eliminate risk.

That’s understandable. We shouldn’t take excessive risks.

The problem is that the person in this kind of situation isn’t avoiding excessive risks. He’s trying to avoid all risk.

No matter how many times the person has washed his hands, there’s always the worry that there could have been some harmful microbes left behind.

And you know what? There could be! In fact, there almost certainly are.

But the odds of the ones left behind on already-washed hands causing a serious illness are very, very low.

God gave us an immune system to deal with such microbes. Furthermore, he gave us beneficial microbes that also cover our skin, and we don’t want to wash too many of those off! If you do that, you actually create new risks.

So what should a person’s goal be in such situations?

It should not be eliminating all risk. That’s impossible. Every single action we undertake involves risks.

Risk is part of the human condition in this life and cannot be entirely eliminated. Trying to do so will cause more problems than it solves—like washing one’s hands until they are shriveled, cracked, and even more vulnerable to infection than when the skin was intact.

Rather than risk elimination, risk management should be the goal.

In other words, one should be willing to take risks as long as the risks aren’t excessive.

If a risk isn’t excessive, a person with scrupulosity or OCD should put it out of his mind and not worry about it.

Doing so pleases God and displays faith in him that he will either not allow the danger we fear to materialize or he will give us the grace to deal with it if it does.

Tool 2: Setting a Limit

One way people can avoid getting trapped in a compulsive, repetitive behavior (e.g., checking the stove or saying the same prayer multiple times just to make sure you said it “right”) is by setting a limit.

I recommend that people allow themselves to do something once if it seems reasonable and then not do it again unless extraordinary circumstances exist.

For example, checking the door once to make sure that it is locked can be reasonable. But once that’s been done, don’t check it again.

The same thing goes for making sure that the stove is turned off.

Or washing your hands.

Or saying a prayer (whether that prayer is a short one, like an Our Father, or a long one, like an entire Rosary; don’t get stuck repeating the same prayer multiple times because you feel like you didn’t do it right; say it once and move on, trusting God with any imperfections in your performance).

Setting a limit to how often you will allow yourself to do something (I recommend one time) can help avoid getting stuck in a repetitive cycle.

Tool 3: Living in a Human Manner

One of the difficulties that people with OCD and scrupulosity encounter is that they are holding themselves to standards far higher than ordinary people do.

In fact, they are holding themselves to superhuman standards—that is, standards which God did not intend people in the present condition of life to meet.

When we are glorified and purged of all stain of original sin, we may be able to avoid every uncharitable thought and say every prayer with blazingly intense devotion, but that is not the condition in which we find ourselves now.

Trying to achieve such superhuman feats will cause problems in the here and now.

Therefore, do not strive for the superhuman. In this life, we are called to live “in a human manner” (Latin, in modo humano).

If you find yourself being anxious or suffering because you are not able to do something in the utterly perfect way you would like to do it, stop for a reality check and ask: “Am I trying to live in a human manner here—or in a superhuman manner?”

If it’s the latter, scale back your ambitions.

It can sometimes be difficult for people with OCD and scrupulosity to apply this test because they can have unreasonably high expectations about what they ought to be able to achieve.

As a result, it can be helpful for them to look outside themselves to help establish a frame of reference. This leads to the next three tools . . .

Tool 4: Use Church Teaching to Calibrate Expectations

The teaching of the Church can be a useful tool for helping to calibrate expectations in this arena.

In its 2,000-year history, the Church has faced countless situations and applied the moral principles that Christ gave us to them.

When considering questions of what may be excessive risk in a particular activity, ask yourself: “Has the Church ever said that this activity is sinful?”

If a common, specific activity carries such risk with it that it would actually be sinful then the Church has probably condemned it.

The Church may not have dealt with rare, unusual activities, but if it is something common and it is so risky that it is sinful then there is likely to be a condemnation of it.

On the other hand, if there is no such condemnation, the scrupulous person should act on the principle that it is non-sinful.

For example, recently I was asked whether washing underwear with other clothes might be sinful since germs from the underwear could get onto the other clothes.

People have washed underwear with other clothes throughout the entirety of the Church’s history, but the Church has never said that this is so risky it must not be done.

Apart from very unusual circumstances (e.g., the underwear was worn by a person with ebola), it should be assumed that it is not sinful to do this.

Tool 5: Use Other People to Create a Reference Point

It can also be very helpful to consider what other people would do in the same situation as a guide to what is reasonable.

Obviously, you want to select individuals who would be good guides to what is reasonable. This, principally, means two things:

Do not think of people who are fellow OCD/scrupulosity sufferers. Using them as a guide will only result in staying trapped.

Do not use people who have no conscience and no sense of morals. They are unreliable in the opposite direction.

Instead, you might pick a priest or spiritual director who you respect and ask yourself, “What would this person say?”

And it doesn’t even have to be a priest or specialist. You could just ask, “What would an ordinary Christian trying to please God say?”

If that person would say the activity is not sinful then act on the principle that it is not sinful.

To use our previous example of washing underwear with other clothes, an ordinary, pious priest would not think twice about this being sinful (apart from weird cases, like ebola).

Neither would an ordinary, sincere Christian.

Tool 6: Use Past Experience

A final tool is one’s own past experience.

When considering whether a particular course of action entails excessive risk, ask the question: “Has this ever caused a serious problem in the past?”

If the answer is no then act on the principle that it is not sinful.

Again, using our previous example, if you’ve washed underwear with other clothes for years and it’s never caused anyone to get seriously ill then assume that the risk is acceptable and the action is not sinful.

A Final Word

It is not possible for a blog post to offer a complete theory of risk management that covers every possible situation, but the above principles can serve as valuable tools for those suffering from OCD or scrupulosity.

I’d also like to invite readers—whether they have these conditions or not—to pray for those who do.

My own experience with helping such people has given me a great deal of compassion for what they go through.

If you haven’t known and interacted with such individuals, it can be difficult to understand the kind of anxieties and moral crises that they face.

Be thankful that you don’t have to wear these crowns of thorns, and please pray for those who do.

I recently wrote a book on scrupulosity that may be helpful for those suffering from it. It is entitled Living with Spiritual Stigmata and can be found on Amazon.

Posted by Michael Lofton on Wednesday, Aug, 20, 2014 5:58 PM (EDT):

By the way my email is michaellofton84@gmail.com

Posted by Michael Lofton on Wednesday, Aug, 20, 2014 5:54 PM (EDT):

I’m glad this topic is being addressed since most are not familiar with how to help others who have this problem, even among the clergy. I have had OCD and scrupulosity to an extreme and it is very painful. I wanted to clarify some points made in this article that are not necessarily always the case. For example, the third suggestion assumes that scrupulosity is related to one desiring to be perfect. This is not necessarily the case. When I scrupuled over something, it was never over whether if something was a venial sin, it was always whether I was going to hell from the action, and at times the action could be as minor as whether I phrased my words correctly when I spoke a sentence to someone. I would actually wonder if I didn’t phrase it correctly, if that was a lie and if I was going to hell as a result since lying is grave matter. Also number four is helpful, using the Church’s teaching, but the Church hasn’t about everything and it is those things that it hasn’t spoken about yet that leave one back at point A. Number five helps but even if you find someone holy, you will always ask yourself if that holy man was wrong on the advice they gave you or the example they gave you on a particular point because all humans save Christ and Mary are imperfect. Number six isn’t always helpful because one may not always know what other people have experience in the past when confronted with the same problem or worse, they may think that past experience may have led one to be damned. If you are suffering from scrupulosity, and I mean really suffering, I’d be happy to help you via email or the phone. I am not a licensed professional, nor am I a priest. I am just a man who has had to suffer through this problem and learned some things along the way and I’d be more than willing to help you if you are suffering from this in any way I can because I know how painful it is and how hard it is to find help. My heart goes out to you if you are dealing with this right now, but the good news is that Christ will not abandon you.

The following book helped me at the lowest point in my life wrestling with scrupulosity: http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Scrupulosity-Questions-Helps-Encouragement/dp/0764815768/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408571534&sr=8-1&keywords=thomas+m+santa+scrupulosity

@Marlene,
I only have one word for everything that you wrote: Hogwash!
^
Catholic theology teaches that it is the sinner who chooses eternal damnation. You have to know that an act is a grave sin, and, then, commit the act “with full knowledge and deliberate consent” (CCC, para. 1857.
Furthermore, it is not beyond our “ability to do anything about it.” That is the whole reason Christ came, to save us through His Church. God Bless!

Posted by Tucson on Monday, Aug, 18, 2014 4:46 AM (EDT):

If we fail or refuse to do the reading, which is nowadays readily available ... not always the case in the old days ... then at our last judgment, what will we say to the Judge? Jesus is the Judge.

Will we say that our time was too valuable to take a look?

Will the Judge laugh at us?

Or will He say ... “well, you can stay for three days”.

Posted by Tucson on Sunday, Aug, 17, 2014 12:25 PM (EDT):

Try a different approach:

Read ALL the books and articles on The Shroud of Turin ... ALL of them, especially the most recent.

Read “Relics” and “Eucharistic Miracles” by Joan Carroll Cruz.

Read “The Eucharistic Miracles of the World” by the Institute of St. Clement I and available from www.lifeeternal.org

There is a video out there with the most recent scientific testing findings of the Shroud of Turin and the interviews with the scientists are telling because those scientists, skeptics many of them, have been about reduced to tears.

Don’t believe me.

Do the reading.

What do you have to lose?

Take a chance.

Posted by Marlene on Sunday, Aug, 17, 2014 11:51 AM (EDT):

We have in our society an assumption that religion is for the most part benign or good for you. Therapists, like others, expect that if you stop believing, you just quit going to church, putting it in the same category as not believing in Santa Claus. Some people also consider religious beliefs childish, so you just grow out of them, simple as that. Therapists often don’t understand fundamentalism, and they even recommend spiritual practices as part of therapy. In general, people who have not survived an authoritarian fundamentalist indoctrination do not realize what a complete mind-rape it really is.

Religious Trauma Syndrome has a very recognizable set of symptoms, a definitive set of causes, and a debilitating cycle of abuse.

The doctrine of Original Sin and Eternal Damnation cause the most psychological distress by creating the ultimate double bind. You are guilty and responsible, and face eternal punishment. Yet you have no ability to do anything about it.

You must conform to a mental test of “believing” in an external, unseen source for salvation, and maintain this state of belief until death. You cannot ever stop sinning altogether, so you must continue to confess and be forgiven, hoping that you have met the criteria despite complete lack of feedback about whether you will actually make it to heaven.

Salvation is not a free gift after all.

For the sincere believer, this results in an unending cycle of shame and relief. It is a cycle of abuse.

Religious Trauma Syndrome mimics the symptoms of many other disorders –

post-traumatic stress disorder
clinical depression
anxiety disorders
bipolar disorder
obsessive compulsive disorder
borderline personality disorder
eating disorders
social disorders
marital and sexual dysfunctions
suicide
drug and alcohol abuse
extreme antisocial behavior, including homicide
There are many extreme cases, including child abuse of all kinds, suicide, rape, and murder. Not as extreme but also tragic are all the people who are struggling to make sense of life after losing their whole basis of reality. None of the previously named diagnoses quite tells the story, and many who try to get help from the mental health profession cannot find a therapist who understands.

In the United States, we also treasure our bill of rights, our freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. This makes it extremely difficult to address a debilitating disorder like RTS without threatening the majority of Americans. Raising questions about toxic beliefs and abusive practices in religion seems to be violating a taboo. No one wants to be pointing fingers for fear of tampering with our precious freedoms. For therapists who don’t get it, parents who merely force church attendance aren’t exactly axe-murderers.

But this is the problem. The sanitization of religion makes it all the more insidious when it is toxic. Small children are biologically dependent on their adult caretakers. Built into their survival mechanisms is a need to trust authority just to stay alive. Religious teachings take hold easily in their underdeveloped brains while the adults conveniently keep control. This continues generation after generation, as the religious meme complex reproduces itself, and masses of believers learn to value self-loathing and fear apocalypse.

Posted by Michelle on Monday, Aug, 11, 2014 2:34 PM (EDT):

Scrupulosity is considered by the OCD specialists I’m seeing to not be merely related to OCD, but as a subtype of OCD. It’s OCD with religious content. While the causes of OCD are still unclear, it’s being considered more as a neurological problem. While we all experience intrusive thoughts, folks with OCD experience an excessive amount of distress with these thoughts. Obsessions aren’t willed; compulsions are willed, but habitual.

One therapist from my center described my OCD treatment as a patient typing an email while an apparent gun’s pointed to their head and having the therapist tell them to keep typing. Personally, I think it’s easy for those without OCD to give well-meaning, but poor advice because all they see is the OCD sufferer freaking out, not why they’re freaking out.

Posted by Michelle on Monday, Aug, 11, 2014 1:38 PM (EDT):

Thanks for this article! I’m a long time sufferer of scruples who was recently diagnosed with OCD. In my current therapy, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), I’m slowly being exposed to what triggers greater degrees of anxiety while learning to stop compulsing to temporarily relieve the anxiety. (For ex., my typical compulsions include scouring Catholic Answers or asking people for reassurance that I didn’t bother them.) The points you noted jive very well with what I’m learning and how I see my disorder as a Catholic, though I’ll take care not to focus on them too much, since that would be a way to “make sure” I’m recovering according to God’s will—i.e. more compulsing!

Posted by Jim S. on Friday, Aug, 8, 2014 8:27 PM (EDT):

Great suggestions everyone. I’ve also heard Jimmy recommend catching a couple of reruns of MONK (starring Tony Shalhoub)to help bring the very powerful medicine of humor into the mix. Works great for me!

Posted by Tucson on Friday, Aug, 8, 2014 7:32 AM (EDT):

Normally, the second time a priest sees me coming for confession, he jumps out a window.

He runs to Rome and begs the Holy Father to let some other priest hear my confession.

Look up “Scrupulous Anonymous” ... they have a book and a monthly newsletter. Send them a few dollars for the postage and printing.

Posted by ohio gal on Wednesday, Aug, 6, 2014 7:39 PM (EDT):

Thank you—some of this I have read before but still helpful. It’s a crown of thorns, all right!

Posted by Tom in AZ on Monday, Aug, 4, 2014 6:16 PM (EDT):

@Raven: Remedial literacy classes involve no pharmaceuticals, and they seem like they’d solve a lot of your problems.

Posted by Raven on Monday, Aug, 4, 2014 4:59 PM (EDT):

Well, we all know you’re really God, Tom.

Posted by Joseph Q Pham on Monday, Aug, 4, 2014 4:38 PM (EDT):

Thank you Jimmy,

I just wanted you to know your request for prayers for those that suffer in these conditions was touching. And that I felt strongly your compassion and love.

Joseph

Posted by Tom in AZ on Sunday, Aug, 3, 2014 10:08 PM (EDT):

@Raven: Very good, repeating what I just said back to me.

Posted by Raven on Sunday, Aug, 3, 2014 12:03 PM (EDT):

You need to go to both psychiatrists and psychologists to relieve anxiety disorders—you need prescription drugs and therapies to change your life.

Posted by Tom in AZ on Saturday, Aug, 2, 2014 7:05 PM (EDT):

@Raven: ...I recommended therapy, with a psychologist rather than a psychiatrist, because psychiatrists are not therapists. You go to a psychiatrist for prescription drugs, which are always a good idea for things they’ve been shown to work on (although it’s tricky to medicate bipolar), but they won’t help much without therapy. Meds certainly help the anxiety disorders—in your case, though, you might want to hold off, since they can have bad side-effects in adolescents who are prone to suicidal ideation. Those antipsychotics you ought to be taking for your hallucinations are probably safe even for adolescents, though.
-
There aren’t really any actual mental health professionals who DON’T recommend supporting meds with therapy.

Posted by Raven on Saturday, Aug, 2, 2014 1:47 PM (EDT):

Did I miss the suggestion of consulting with your doctor and/or psychiatrist/neuroscience mental health physician?
.
Of course a person suffering from anxiety and OCD are going to be suspicious of medical doctors and medicines. It takes a long time to find the proper medication for each patient. I’m sure, however that Tom of AZ/God prays to himself every day, and you can see how little it helps him.
.
Scientology is another religion that preaches against psychiatry—maybe if you get tired of being a Catholic, you can check them out.

Posted by kevin on Saturday, Aug, 2, 2014 2:34 AM (EDT):

Jock, that was not a substantial contribution to this discussion.

I agree with Tom—everything I’ve read and experienced in the matter of OCD suggests it is a form of anxiety disorder.

One should certainly try to choose and stick with a single confessor.

At the same time, if one can afford it, I highly suggest finding a catholic therapist to guide you via www.catholictherapists.com What I did was I would have regularly scheduled sessions with the therapist who understands the teachings of the church, and all the fine nuances of what does and does not constitute mortal and venial sin. This way, if there is a problem, you can discuss matters with your therapist first (instead of rushing off to confession every week) and let them direct you whether an action you committed needs to be brought to the confessional. You can even tell your priest that you’re seeing a faithful, well-informed catholic therapist and try to get the priest’s permission that he is authorizing the therapist to direct you (that’s what I did)—in other words, if the catholic therapist tells you that you didn’t commit a mortal sin, then you can assume that’s the equivalent of the priest telling you that you did not commit a mortal sin, and you need not bring it to confession—and since the priest is an “Alter Christus” then you’ve got Christ’s authority over the whole thing.

Over time, the catholic therapist should be training you through cognitive behavioral therapy, the church’s teachings on what constitutes sin, a proper understanding of “conscience” in catholic theology, love of God, etc. to be able to judge for yourself whether something you did was or was not a mortal sin, or a venial sin, or a sin at all. That should be the end goal, here—to go from trusting the priest to direct you based on God’s authorizing of the priest, to trusting the therapist to direct you based on the priest’s authorizing him/her, to trusting yourself to direct yourself based on the therapist’s authorization. All of it goes back to trust in God through this chain of command He has providentially placed in your life.

Posted by A J MacDonald Jr on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 9:16 PM (EDT):

Scrupulosity and OCD are related to superstition. Performing a ritual to insure something bad won’t happen.

Posted by Jock on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 7:41 PM (EDT):

What a load of twerp is written on the majority of this blog. Is there anyone normal out there…hellooooo ?

Posted by Robert on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 2:59 PM (EDT):

May I say that I am sorry to hear that Tom Azygous has OCD. We all wish him the speedyest recovery.

Posted by Tom in AZ on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 2:53 PM (EDT):

Therapy with a psychOLOGist. PsychIATRists are, from my experience, little more than pill-dispensers (they’re MDs, but psychology is only tangentially medical). You need actual therapy, you find a psychologist.

Posted by Sheryl on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 1:58 PM (EDT):

I used to suffer severe anxieties. I had hypochondriasis (severe fear of illness, death) and what helped me a lot were Eucharistic adoration and meditating on the Passion and death of our Lord through the Stations if the Cross which I prayed everyday in the Adoration Chapel. A person who is anxious wants predictability, control—which are unreasonable expectations. It’s important to realize that we really can’t control everything. Meditating on the Stations of the Cross has served to increase my love for Jesus who said, “If you wish to be my disciple, take up your cross nd follow me.” Therefore to love Jesus is to embrace what suffering may come for the love of Him. Embracing auffering for Jesus rather than trying to escape it has really done wonders in removing my fear of things beyond my control like illness or death, and increasing my love of God. I always remember Simon of Cyrene who walked with the Lord. Suffering then can hve meaning and value. To suffer for someone you love is something easier to do than suffering alone which ia really what I was afraid of before. But walking with Jesus helps us to see we are never alone in suffering.

My 8-year old son has OCD and I taught him how embracing his hardhsips for Jesus rather than trying to escape or resist them will help to remove their “power” over him. I taught him to pray a child version of the Way of the Cross and it has helped him a lot to remember that to bear his cross for Jesus makes it more bearable. It seems to work. My son wears a cross around his neck, his firat communion crosa, and holds onto it whenever he has an OCD attack which helps to relieve the anxiety. He remembers to bear the cross for Jesus nd it becomes lighter for him. Perhaps one day it will make a saint out of him. :) he’s a happy young boy.

Posted by Robert on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 12:15 PM (EDT):

May I say that some form of therapy by a trained Phychiatrist is advisable as an adjunct to medication.

Posted by Deborah Dyer on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 10:54 AM (EDT):

THANK YOU for such a helpful article on scruples. Your suggestions are insightful and relevant.
As one who has suffered from scruples, sometimes acute, all my life, may I add a few suggestions of my own.
* Find a good confessor, one who is patient, wise and holy. Make sure that you confess to him only; don’t switch around. I have had the grace of such a confessor. What a blessing!
* Be strict with yourself in obeying your confessor.
* Don’t confess doubtful sins. If you doubt the seriousness of the matter, or your full reflection and consent, they are not seriously sinful. Only if you wish or need to, should you discuss your doubts with your confessor.
*Frequently avail yourself of the Sacraments of Reconcilliation and Eucharist. Both are Sacraments of healing.
*Don’t strain the gnat and swallow the camel. Sometimes we get so caught up in our scruples that we forget the “weightier things of the Law”, that is LOVE. Focus on the fact that God love you SO much, and find ways share that love with others.
* Pray! Like Jesus in Gethsemane, ask the Father to lift this burden from you. But if that does not happen, offer this spiritual suffering for souls in special need.
* Go online. The Redemptorists have a helpful website: Scrupulous Anonymous. Google it.
*Take care of yourself. Get adequate rest and food, Get out in the fresh and and share some time with people.
* Trust in God’s love. Jesus said: “Be of good heart, I have overcome the world.” He’s with you in your rocky boat. He won’t let you sink.
*Cultivate a sense of humor but especially find ways to laugh at yourself.
Again Jimmy Akin, for writing this article on scruple. You have a way of clarifying so many questions.

Posted by Tom in AZ on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 10:15 AM (EDT):

@Robert: Your “Ph. D. in all areas of intellectual development” has certainly failed you now, ‘cause actually, OCD, being a clinical anxiety disorder, is much more closely related to Generalized Anxiety Disorder—OCD’s compulsions are a maladaptive coping mechanism for anxiety. OCD does coincide with bipolar disorder to a “statistically significant” degree of 15-20% (“remote viewing” experiments have also achieved “statistically significant” results—11% more accurate than wild guessing!), but that means, respectively, “3 in 20” and “1 in 5”, not a terribly strong association. The association between OCD and bipolar disorder is probably because clinical depression of all kinds, including the kind you get in bipolar, is neurologically related to clinical anxiety disorders.

Posted by just me on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 9:18 AM (EDT):

mmkr- thanks, I believe you are spot-on with the situation with my daughter. I do believe she will outgrow this as she matures, that is why I hesitate to take her to a specialist just yet. I don’t think “tough love” is acceptable either, and I have always listened to everything she has to say. I just want her to try and work it out in her head first, but she always knows she can come to me, and she does.

Posted by Robert on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 8:52 AM (EDT):

May I say that OCD is a clinical condition which is very serious and related to bipolar disorder. While it can come and go, the best way to control it appears to be medications such as Zolof which ideally should be taken for life.

Posted by Mark on Friday, Aug, 1, 2014 1:09 AM (EDT):

I was unfamiliar with OCD until my daughter developed a rather severe case in the eighth grade that lasted over a year. I won’t go into detail about the symptoms, but they disrupted her life considerably. While I believe Jimmy’s suggestions would be helpful with scruples, I believe OCD is a quite different condition caused not by irrational thought, which merely a symptom, but by chemical reactions in the brain that cannot be managed through reasoned thought. Those who suffer, for instance, the obsession of hand washing don’t merely think they may still be dirty, they truly believe they will die or some other horrific event might occur if they don’t repeat the action. It has nothing to do with reason.

I suggest three things: those suffering with OCD tell others who are close to them; they should pray for healing and ask others to do so; they should not try to reason with the obsessive thoughts at all, begin to develop the skill of defying them - these people are generally well aware that the thoughts are irrational. Once the person begins to consistently defy and ignore the compulsion the brain begins to sort itself out and the compulsions gradually subside. I am happy to say that my daughter made a full recovery in about two months using this technique. Over four years have passed without a relapse. The process involve a certain violence against one’s own will - rather like dismissing a particularly powerful temptation, but it works.

Posted by mmkr on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 10:00 PM (EDT):

In my experience, some scrupulosity is not uncommon in early adolescence as children begin to exercise their own moral judgement on important topics such as sexuality. There is a certain degree of anxiety that comes with the process of discovering the boundaries of appropriate behavior. Many of these anxieties subside as the child’s emotional maturity increases. Having good moral guidance is important, but I would be very careful with the idea of “tough love” as making someone feel stupid or bad for having scruples can increase their level of anxiety and make things worse.

Posted by just me on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 9:18 PM (EDT):

Thank you. I have adapted your steps for my 11 year old daughter. She is not scrupulous, but it is a possibility she has OCD. She doesn’t display any outward signs, hers are all in her thoughts, which I didn’t even know this is possible, until I talked with my psych dr. This is what I came up with, any feedback would be welcomed.
1. You should put it out of your mind and not worry about it. Doing so pleases God and displays faith in Him that He will not allow the danger you fear and He will give you the grace to deal with it.
2. Say a prayer (like an Our Father, or a Hail Mary; say it and move on, trusting God).
3. “Have you ever done this in the past?” No, then remember that God is pleased with you, and you showed faith in Him. God will always give you what you need to deal with your thoughts.

Posted by charles on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 1:45 PM (EDT):

The last sentence of Murray’s post is excellent advice.

Posted by Daniel on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 12:46 PM (EDT):

Hello,

I suffer this condition. I have been informed that the OCD community at large does not agree with the “Brain-Lock” (the first OCD book that I read) book since the “It’s not me, it’s my OCD” can become a ritual in and of itself (though I agree that learning about the physical causes of the disorder is a great thing to take from it). I recommend “Freedom From Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” by Dr. Jon Grayson and the advice given by St Alphonsus Liguori (suffered scruples, Doctor of the CHurch, Feast Day tomorrow) to obey your confessor and to work with a single confessor (don’t go “priest-shopping”). I’d also recommend checking out “Scrupulous Anonymous” which is produced by the Redemptorists.

Peace—Dan

Posted by Jer on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 12:12 PM (EDT):

Just want to say. It could be Spiritual. I think the book is healing the whole man by Joan Hunter. Also the Famous Father Hampsh Healing the Family Tree. I did some spiritual deliverance as the protestants call it. It works perfectly great! I was abused and had the movie playing over and over in my head for most of my life. (I’m 52) But 10 years ago I learned and worked with some great Spiritual leaders in this area for years to heal and learn. My first group session was great. Just bound what is call the recorder Spirit. Cast it and it was gone forever. So I say. This is suppose to be normal for Christians to act. Cast out. Heal the sick. I say just pray it off ... My God is a God of power and miracles and we have forgotten the old ways. GB jer

Posted by Pamela Rieth on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 12:09 PM (EDT):

Thank you for explaining scrupulosity. I’ve heard that I should avoid it, but never understood what was meant.

Posted by dmw on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 11:55 AM (EDT):

What if the scrupulous person becomes obsessed with the exact following of your six point plan?

Posted by Murray on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 11:16 AM (EDT):

We ‘westerners’ have over-complicated our lives to the point where we end up in lonely places and wonder how we got there. There are many other compulsive disorders that contribute to this e.g. hundreds of additions most of which focus on self. The cave-man and the natives of today who live simply in the bush have left ‘progressive man’ in their wake in-so-far-as living simply. More money, houses, cars - better this, better that…man today has slotted every other disorder into a particular box and then thousands of books are written to try and reintroduce…normality. Live a Christ-centered life of simplicity and most things will be fine.

Posted by kevin on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 10:32 AM (EDT):

A couple extra things from someone who dealt with pretty intense scruples/ocd for years, and still suffers from them now albeit to a much lesser extent—

1) Definitely look up Father Doyle’s short treatise “Scruples and Their Treatment”—-this is an amazingly helpful text that you should use as a guide.

2) Get some help via www.catholictherapists.com—some of them even do skype sessions.

3) Read the book “Brain-Lock” which is about OCD and the physical mechanisms that contribute to it. Becoming aware of how this condition works on the physical level can be empowering.

3) Anti-anxiety meds can help—zoloft did for me, but of course everyone’s different.

*Bonus: Are you a Harry Potter reader? Revisit Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, chapter 23: “Christmas on the Closed Ward”. JK Rowling recently said that she suffered from OCD as a kid, and although she hasn’t said anything else about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if that experience influenced this chapter. Harry’s experience in this chapter is uncannily similar to the feelings and worries of OCD sufferers—you’ll also find that the answer/solution for him comes in coming to terms with common sense and trust in others, just as it should for us.

Posted by charles on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 9:47 AM (EDT):

Every problem in life has a root cause and until the root cause can be identified and addressed, the problem cannot be solved. Covered up maybe, but not solved.
For example, the compulsive hand washing probably has its roots in childhood or in some type of chemical brain imbalance. Advising that person to live modo humano is good advice but also some tough love might be appropriate.
Speaking of tough love, there are many catholics in this country who could use some when it comes to attending Sunday mass. Their excuses for not attending mass are mostly and vastly childish.

Posted by Robert on Thursday, Jul, 31, 2014 8:20 AM (EDT):

May I say that relatively recent research by Lutheran Scholars clearly has indicated that Martin Luther (and St. Ignatius of Loyola) suffered from the above described malady. In fact, it has been reported that after going to Confession he would have an impure thought and would immediently go back to Confession. His Confessor became so frustrated with him that he suggested he read the Bible to overcome the impure thoughts. In reading the Bible, Luther tried to find a cure for his malady. This resulted in his conclusion that we should sin as a sign of our Christianity. He made a famous remark the we should commit adultery one thousand times as a sign that we are committed to Christ.

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Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant pastor or seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith. Eventually, he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, “A Triumph and a Tragedy,” is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on “Catholic Answers Live.”